“We didn’t do a very good job of answering,” said Bruin head coach Tim Bart. “We had bad shot selection and we did not do a good job of fundamentals.”

And three-point shooting woes in the second half — the Bruins nailed just one trey in their final 12 attempts behind the arc — took its toll as well.

Bart chided his squad for settling too many times for three-point shots instead of pounding the ball inside to exploit Broken Arrow’s foul woes.

The opening portion of the game belonged to the Bruins, who surged to a 21-13 lead in the opening quarter.

Bartlesville bolted to a 6-0 lead in the opening minutes, including a gritty bucket by Quinton Smith (12 points), who had to power up between three defenders.

Broken Arrow finally got on the board when Huffman put down a long two-pointer, launched from near the left corner.

But, the Bruins continued to pull away. Shoemaker’s scoop layup, off a fast break, stretched Bartlesville’s lead to nine points, 11-2, with 4:51 left in the first quarter.

Following a Tiger timeout, Bartlesville quickly increased its lead to 12 points, 16-4, after Smith smoked the cords with a three-pointer.

Bartlesville then pushed to its biggest advantage, 19-6, when Shoemaker rang up a trey, with less than three minutes left in the opening period.

Broken Arrow snapped back with a 7-2 run to end the quarter, fueled by Bruin mistakes, including a five-second violation.

The second quarter proved the theory of opposite-and-equal reaction.

Whereas Bartlesville had dominated the first quarter, the Tigers reciprocated in the second, outscoring the Bruins, 19-12, to pull within one point at halftime, 33-32.

Tanner Gregurich led the Tigers’ second-period resurrection by dropping three three-pointers down the chute.

Bartlesville had reason to be concerned going into the break. The Bruins had ripped the nets on torrid shooting, hitting 6-of-10 from behind the three-point line, and 11-of-18 on overall field goals.

Despite that impressive stat, they led by only one point at the break.

Broken Arrow quickly grabbed the lead, 34-33, in the third quarter, but Hartsock’s hammered a three-pointer to put Bartlesville back in front, 36-34.

The Tigers put together a roaring rally to roll to a six-point lead, 44-38, about midway through the period.

But, in typical gritty Bruin fashion, Bartlesville clawed back to within two points by the end of the third period, 49-47.

Early in the fourth quarter, the teams traded one free throw apiece, with Jackson Bart hitting the charity toss for Bartlesville.

The score then would be tied 50-50 and 52-52.

After Broken Arrow elbowed out to a 57-52 bulge, Shoemaker buried a three-pointer, off an assist from Antonio Castillo.

With 2:27 left, Smith completed a conventional three-point play to slice Broken Arrow’s lead to one point, 59-58.

But, down the stretch, Bartlesville just couldn’t overtake the Tigers.

Dontae Campbell’s 13-footer gave the Tigers a three-pointer lead, 63-60, with 1:04 remaining.

Bartlesville missed a shot on its next possession and Broken Arrow managed to burn 20 seconds off the clock before committing a turnover.

But, the Bruins missed a three-pointer and Broken Arrow came down with the rebound, which forced Bartlesville to start fouling with less than 20 seconds showing.

During the final 18.8 seconds, Broken Arrow hit 4-of-4 from the stripe.

Next up, the Bruins will play host Saturday to Tulsa NOAH in a highly-anticipated matchup.

When they met back in late-December, NOAH won an overtime decision, 88-85, at Oral Roberts University. NOAH’s Allonzo Trier scored 64 points that night, in one of the greatest individual offensive performances in Oklahoma high school basketball history.

Tip-off for Saturday’s game is set for 8 p.m., at the Bruin Fieldhouse.